‘I Started Shaking:’ Black Delivery Man Claims Butcher Sent Him A Noose

NYPD opened a hate crime investigation after Victor Sheppard said the butcher told him to "put the noose around his neck and pull it."

New York City Police said Thursday that an African-American delivery man said that he got a noose as a “gift” from a well-known butcher who now is the subject of a hate crime investigation, reports the New York Daily News.

Joe Ottomanelli, of Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market on Bleecker St., is accused of giving Victor Sheppard a noose fashioned out of yellow rope and an odd message, sources said.

“If you ever have any stress, just put it around your neck and pull it. I could even help you with it,” Sheppard, 36, said Ottomanelli told him.

“I started shaking,” he told the Daily News. “He was laughing. I don’t know what kind of joke that is…”

Police also added that Ottomanelli also allegedly made racist statements in the past, and the National Action Network plans to hold a rally for tolerance in front of the butcher’s shop Friday, reports Pix 11.